Break Down Organizational Silos: The Secret to Evangelizing SaaS Management

What’s the secret to unlocking the full potential and value of SaaS Management? It’s you, the cross-functional team, with your unique expertise and contributions from IT, Software Asset Management, Finance, and Procurement. Your alignment and collaboration are the key.

Without alignment from the start, these teams end up working in silos. The result is that SaaS will continue to proliferate without the proper visibility and governance.

For instance, IT may successfully reclaim unused licenses and avoid purchasing more. But if they aren’t working with Procurement, they won’t have visibility into the renewal date to ensure timely reclamations. Likewise, Procurement won’t have the information they need to rightsize and convert that cost avoidance into actual cost savings.

Because SaaS Management is a program – not a one-time project – ongoing stakeholder commitment is vital. By evangelizing your program across the organization, you can remove silos. Here’s how.

What Does It Mean to Evangelize SaaS Management?

At its core, evangelizing SaaS Management means communicating the program’s value and importance across your organization. It’s not just about IT or Procurement managing their respective tasks; it’s about fostering a shared understanding that SaaS Management affects the entire business.

To successfully evangelize SaaS Management, you’ll need to:

• Bring in Multiple Stakeholders: SaaS Management requires cross-functional collaboration. By involving teams from IT, Procurement, Finance, and Software Asset Management, you can ensure that every department understands how their efforts contribute to overall SaaS success.
• Maintain Clear and Consistent Communication: Transparency is key. Regularly communicating the goals, progress, and value of your SaaS Management initiatives helps stakeholders stay informed and engaged. Clear communication creates a culture where everyone is invested in driving SaaS efficiency and breaks down organizational silos.
• Use Data to Drive Ownership and Accountability: Data is not just numbers, it’s a tool that empowers you to show how SaaS impacts the organization. You can cultivate a sense of ownership and accountability across departments by sharing relevant metrics, like cost savings, usage insights, and compliance statistics.

How Do You Evangelize SaaS Management?

Evangelizing SaaS Management requires a strategic approach that brings key stakeholders together, establishes clear roles, and ensures ongoing communication and collaboration. By aligning teams such as IT, Software Asset Management (SAM), and Procurement, you can break down silos and drive value for your business.

Bring in Multiple Stakeholders with Clear Roles and Responsibilities

When stakeholders don’t fully understand their roles or how they contribute to the program’s goals, it can lead to friction and organizational silos. To avoid these issues, establish clear responsibilities from the outset.

Key stakeholders typically include IT, SAM, and Procurement, but it’s essential to recognize that the entire business plays a role in SaaS Management. Decisions regarding purchasing, budgeting, and application rationalization impact teams across the company, making their involvement critical. Other stakeholders could include department heads, end-users, and finance managers.

“In the early stages of establishing a SaaS Management program, it’s critical to engage not just the immediate Procurement team but also IT, Finance, and the actual users of the software. It’s a trifecta that covers all perspectives, which is fundamental for a well-rounded strategy.”

– Brett Bartolai, Head of Procurement, North America at GrubHub

Here’s how each team contributes to SaaS Management:

• IT: Application Strategy
  Regarding SaaS Management, IT’s responsibilities include onboarding, building the system of record, and managing app rationalization. Their focus ensures the right tools are in place and properly integrated across the business.
  
• SAM: License Optimization
  SAM, which may report to IT, Procurement, or function as its own department, serves as the bridge between IT and Procurement. Their responsibilities often include understanding software usage, reporting software purchases and license positions back to the business, and partnering with Procurement and the company to make informed renewal decisions.
  
• Procurement: Cost Optimization
  Procurement’s role in SaaS Management centers on purchasing strategy, renewal management, and mitigating financial risk. By focusing on cost efficiency, Procurement ensures the organization maximizes value from its SaaS investments.

Communicate Clearly and Consistently

To ensure SaaS Management stays top of mind and stakeholders understand how your program is driving business value, it’s essential to communicate clearly, consistently, and with transparency. Without a structured communication cadence, key updates and progress can easily be overlooked.

Establishing a regular communication schedule is critical to breaking down organizational silos. For executives, that could mean monthly or quarterly updates, while practitioners and those involved in the day-to-day may benefit from weekly or biweekly touchpoints. This cadence ensures everyone remains aligned on the program’s goals and progress. It could include regular meetings, email updates, or a shared dashboard for tracking progress.

Here are a few important factors to consider:

• Progress over perfection: It’s important to emphasize that SaaS Management is an evolving program. Start small, adapt as needed, and focus on ongoing improvement. At SaaSMe, Bartolai shared similar advice. “The best advice I can give to anyone looking to build a SaaS Management strategy is just to get involved. The journey is about progress, not perfection.” 
  
• Broadcast wins regularly: Highlighting the wins driven by SaaS Management helps build momentum and excitement. Sharing ongoing business value reinforces the program’s importance and supports continued investment in it.
• Use data storytelling: Data is a powerful tool for communicating success. “I find it effective to share success stories and data that highlight tangible benefits experienced by other teams,” said Bartolai. “Demonstrating how the SaaS Management program has improved processes or reduced costs for one team can encourage others to adopt the program and see its value for themselves.”

Maintaining consistent and transparent communication ensures that SaaS Management remains a priority and stakeholders are continuously engaged.

Use Data to Demonstrate Value and Drive Accountability

Data is critical for evangelizing SaaS Management and ensuring that stakeholders take ownership and accountability. When presented clearly, data helps align teams, fosters collaboration, and validates the ongoing investment in SaaS Management.

“The most effective data points when garnering support for SaaS Management strategies are cost analysis, user adoption rates, and vendor performance metrics,” explained Bartolai. “Demonstrating the tangible financial benefits and productivity enhancements resonates well across departments, helping to solidify support for the initiative.”

Centralizing your SaaS data within a SaaS Management Platform gives each stakeholder easy access to the data that matters most to them. This holistic view ensures that SaaS is managed efficiently, and teams can collaborate more effectively.

One way to ensure data drives accountability is using customized dashboards tailored to stakeholder needs. These dashboards offer real-time visibility into key metrics, helping teams make informed decisions and measure progress. By giving each department the tools it needs to track performance, you empower them to take ownership of their role in the SaaS Management process.

Break Down Organizational Silos with Zylo 

Zylo was purpose-built for IT, Software Asset Management, and Procurement teams to work together seamlessly—whether managing spend and risk, optimizing SaaS licensing, or keeping up with renewals. By centralizing SaaS data in one platform, Zylo ensures that every team has the visibility and tools they need to drive collaboration and accountability.

Ready to start evangelizing SaaS Management across your organization? Discover how Zylo’s solutions can help break down departmental silos and maximize the value of your SaaS investments.